Ecuador actually means Equator. The imaginary line that runs through the centre of the Earth were it´s latitude reads 0.00. I´ve been to the Equator before. Over a year and a half ago now I was in Sumatra in Indonesia, were I took a local bus from the nearby town to the site of the Equator. A line was drawn in the road marking the spot but that was pretty much it. Here in Equador though, they appear to have a whole tourist scene set up. From Quito, you have to take two local buses, about an hour north of the city. When you get to the town, there is a large tourist park waiting for you. Inside are shops, generally selling souvernirs and t-shirts with " I made it to the Equator" printed on it. We went on a Sunday when Quiteno families make the trip as well as tourists and there is live music being played throughout the day.
In the centre of the park is a large Monument with a brass globe on the top. The tower represents the site of the Equator. It´s the location where Charles-Marie de la Condamine made the measurements in 1736 showing that this was indeed the equatorial line. His expaditions gave rise to the metric system and proved that the world is not perfectly round but bulges at the Equator.
Actually this is officially not the site of the Equator. When the measurements were made, they were off by about 240m. Around the corner from the tourist park is a small museum, claiming to be the actual site (made by GPS measurements). The museum is called Museo Solar Inti Nan. It´s an outdoor museum where they show you some fun and fascinating experiments even if none of them are technically accurate.
In our group, a guide walks you around. First you see the water being poured down three drains, one either side of the Equtaor and one on the actual line. On the Equator the water appears to head straight down, while either side it spins clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on if your standing on the Southern or Northern Hemisphere. Actually the theory is right, the Coriolis force does make weather patterns veer right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern. But research has proved that the force is too weak to effect small bodies of water like those in a sink or a toilet. We suspect that it´s the way the water is poured in the sink that causes its spin here. It did look impressive though even if it isn´t real.
They also claim you can balance an egg on a nail on the Equator. Everyone got a go. I couldn´t do it but others did manage it. And they also say its impossible to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed and arms up, but it is possible either side of the Equatorial line, as well as doing other experiments where you lift up your friends and try your forces of strength with odd effects around this magical site. I think most of it was more in the mind than the power of the Equator, although we did achieve something - we all looked positively ridiculous.
Actually one truth about the Equator, is that you do actually weigh less, when compared to standing on the poles. This is because at the Equator there is greater centrifugual force, making you weigh about 0.3% lighter than if you were at higher latitudes. In light of this, many of the women in our group didn´t want to leave.
The museum also shows some indigenous, sacred traditions as this was also once an important site for the idigenous populations. They show some shrunken heads, a technique used by people here 1000 years ago, as well as some animals and bugs from the Amazon Jungle, which is only a few hours drive East of Quito. One creature scared all the men greatly, as it will swim up your urine stream from the river and head straight into your very private parts, where it nestles. You need an operation to get it removed and I believe it´s not particularly pleasant. No-one will be going to the toilet in an Amazon River in a hurry I can tell you that much.
We left the middle of the world and headed back to Quito. Even though the science disproves most of the Equator mysteries, it was still fun seeing them all in action. And just being on the Equator I guess is exciting enough. However, it was back to the big city for more Quito living.................
Sunday, 10 January 2010
La Mitad Del Mundo (The Middle Of The World)
The Founding Of Quito Festival
One thing you have to understand when you arrive in Quito is the altitude. High up in the Andes Mountains, Quito is about 2850m above sea level. If you fly in here from the level of the sea (0m) then for your first few days you really feel it. It´s different for everyone. It makes generally no difference of your age, physical health, if your a smoker or not, each person reacts differently to having less oxygen flowing through their body. I didn´t suffer too badly. I had a headache for a day and getting up stairs was hard work, but the effects soon go. When we took the cable car up Pinchincha Volcano, it drops you off at 4600m. Here you feel the effects even more as the higher you go the less oxgen there is. Some people really struggled at this height, but again I didn´t feel the effects too strongly. However, it´s when you do any form of physical activity or exercise that you really feel the strain. I found this out during the Founding Of Quito Festival.
In late November Quito celebrates its biggest party of the year. The annual event of the founding of the city by the Spanish is actually on the 6th December, however the festivities start much earlier. In late November, Quito chooses a Queen, and the evenings are dominated by colourful Chivas (open topped buses) which maneuver through the narrow streets of the town packed with dancing revelers. A few nights before the 6th, our hostel rented a Chiva bus for all the backpackers. The bus was brightly coloured, made mostly of wood and has an odd open-topped compartment. Here a hired band plays festive local music. The backpackers then get as drunk as possible (generally on this sweet, hot Ecuadorian drink called canelazo, which is made from cane alcohol and sugar or cinnamon) and then grip onto the bus at any spot available as the vehicle rides through the city. In an alcholic mess, you blow your whistle at locals and toursits alike, who equally blow their whistles back at you. Local Ecuadorians would also hire out their own band and Chiva buses and often you would end up on their bus in a drunken accident, but party just as hard nevertheless. At one point a few of us got onto the top of the bus where the band was playing. It didn´t occur to me why they were all seated but I soon found out. Chiva buses are quite tall and around the streets of Quito, the power cables hang quite low. It therefore occured that during the night, whilst speeding around on this open-topped bus and dancing, standing up on the top - I did manage to get completely taken out by one of these cables. I hit the deck quicker than an over-dramatic footballer and stumbled up with a very bruised ear. The party continued through the night.
Throughout the festive season, bull-fights are also held regularly. The Spanish tradition of teasing a bull around a ring before slaughtering it in front of a crowd of people has never really appealed to me. Some people who went to the event said either that they really enjoyed it and it was a great experience, or they literally had to leave after 15 minutes because of the horror of the whole thing. I think one day I will attend a real bull-fight and probably here in Quito, but not this time round. Actually a huge group of us did go to a bullfight, but it was a kids show. They do exactly the same thing as the real event except they don´t kill the bulls. In fact we didn´t know this at the time. The only reason we went was because the matadors were in fact midgets and we all thought it would be an interesting experience. How many times in your life can you say - "see ya, im off to see a bullfight with midgets".
It was held in a packed stadium at the Plaza de Toro. The problem with being a midget and a matador is that you can´t run very fast or in large enough circles. As such, they were pretty useless and I got many a photo with a bull´s horn piercing a midgets rear end. They then got about 14 midgets out on the arena, but some goals out and started playing a football match. Then, after 5 minutes of this weird midget football game, yes youv´e guessed it - they unleashed a bull, who proceeded to chase them all around the pitch while they played. I can quite positively say that I have never seen any thing like it before and will unlikely see anything like it again. The whole thing was just bizarre.
Momentum of the festival builds towards the 6th December, with huge parties in the street and live music from local bands and DJ´s playing in many of the cities big outdoor plazas. The whole experience was immense.
At work the parties were out in full swing too. We had a huge meal and played football on the University pitch. All 50 of us, men and women, played in a fun but very unserious game. The University also held a football 5-A-Side tournament. Each department has a team and battles it out for the trophy of University Football Champions. The tournament had actually been going for a few weeks, with the final being played just before the founding of Quito day. When I got asked to play, the Instituto Geofisico had already made it to the semi finals. I played in that game, setting up to goals and helping to take our team to the final. It was here that I really noticed the altitude. If you live at low altitude with lungs like mine, then your red blood cells haven´t built up enough to get the lowered levels of oxygen around your body, at least they haven´t built up enough within a few weeks. I guess after living here for a year I will come back home running marathons, but at this moment in time, playing in the 5-A-Side football tournament final was hard work.
The game was none like I had ever played before. It´s on a concrete pitch, with a ball made of some sort of volcanic rock. It was small, hard and didn´t bounce. Around the edge was about 150 people watching. There was also a band playing music on the side during the game and about 3m from the pitch, spectators were setting off fireworks. I then had to play in this final, in the intense equatorial heat and no oxygen in my lungs. I did manage to score the first goal, a sweet inside of the foot shot into the top corner that would have made Steele Senior proud. I´v never played ina game with so many spectators, nor fireworks going off around me but it was fun. It was shortly after I put my team 1-0 up, that I started to feel dizzy, nearly fainted and then substituted myself off. I can´t explain the feeling. It´s not like getting tired at home - its like your breathing intensely and nothings going in - a very odd feeling. I did manage to get back on the field again but our team lost the final 5-2 in the end. A good effort though.
And with that my first Founding of Quito Day festivities were over. I had riden around Quito on an opened top bus, partying till the early hours and getting taken out by a power cable. Id seen a bullfight with midgets and played in a football final, with fireworks and bands on the touchline, scoring one goal before almost passing out. It was fun. I thought about it after - I can´t think of any festival in england or anywhere in the world for that matter - where probably any one of those things could be experienced. I´ll remember it for a while, I´m sure of that.
With the weekend approaching, a few of us decided to make a day trip north of Quito. It would take us to the site that this country is actually named after.............The Equator.
Working At The Instituto Geofisico
The Instituto Geofisico (Geophysics Institute) is just one department of Quito´s Polytechnic University known as EPN (Escuela Politcnica Nacional). It has the sole responsibiliy throughout Ecuador of monitoring the many active volcanoes in the country, whilst deals with other natural hazard mitigation, for example looking at earthquake activity and other geological phenomena. If there are any issues regarding volcanoes in Ecuador, then the IG are the people to call. It´s a large deaprtment of perhaps 50 - 60 people, most Ecuadorians, but with a scattering of international workers, of whom I would now be a part of.
I have been assingned to the volcano seismology team. That means, we look at the earthquake data coming from volcanoes to understand what the mountains are doing. In Feburary 2010, the Institute is expecting a whole load of instruments to arrive, which they have recently ordered. These monitoring instruments will then be sent around the country to improve our knowledge of the geological and geophysical activity. I will be part of a team for installing these high-tech pieces of equipment, which will be great for learning about volcano monitoring and I´ll also get to see a fair bit of the country too. For now however, I have been made responsible for seismic data processing. essentially looking at the seismic information coming in (in real-time) from several seismographs that the Institute has already monitoring some of the volcanoes. I am using various computer programmes to process the data, which at present involves picking non-seismic events and deleting them from our records, and using a powerful geophysical computer tool - matlab, to calculate displacements of the volcano earthquakes from their velocity. This information is being made into a database (which I am currently constructing) for analysis of earthquake attenutaion around the volcano, which ultimately can tell us a great deal about how the volcano might behave.
The people I work with are fantastic, so friendly and helpful and I can tell from just my first few weeks here that this is going to be a lot of fun and a great experience for me.
I didn´t plan it, but I really have arrived in Quito at the right time. For just one week after I arrived, it was celebration time - for one week before the 6th December, is the biggest parties of the year in this city. I had arrived just in time for the Founding of Quito Festival.................
Arriving In Quito (Ecuador)
I knew my flights to Ecuador might be hassle but I didn’t perhaps realise how much hassle. I somewhat rashly booked flights to Quito via New York and Atlanta in the States. There wasn’t much time between the connections and I knew that I would be running around several airports for most of the time. In the end it didn’t actually matter. Through some combination of the cockpit window playing up at JFK and bad weather in Atlanta, I had already missed my flight to Ecuador before I had even left New York. It resulted in me staying in a seedy motel room in Atlanta, just around the corner from the airport and catching my flight to Ecuador the next day. Eventually I had made it to South America.
The capital of Ecuador, Quito, and my home for the next year is situated in the northern highlands of the country, within the Guayllabamba river basin. The city has been built along a plateau lying in the heart of the Andes Mountain Range. I flew into Quito at night. The landing was precarious to say the least, as it appeared to most passengers that we must of at least scraped a couple of mountains along the way, which resulted in a particularly hair-raising landing (the worst I had ever experienced). For many griping the arms of their chairs, you could tell from their faces that most thought we weren’t going to get of this plane in one piece. We did however, and I have since found out that most landings into Quito are like that.
I didn´t start work for a few days and so I thought it a good idea to quickly make friends with a few backpackers in my hostel, known as the Secret Garden and head off with them to check out the town. The central or main part of Quito is divided into two broad sections. The New Town is located towards the north. At the northern end are high rise buildings, shopping centres and all other modern accessories that you would expect to find in a capital city. However, for some reason or another, it just doesn´t feel right driving past McDonald´s in this part of the world and when you eventually broaden out to the rest of the country, it makes even less sense. At the southern sections of the New Town, is La Mariscal or known locally (and very affectionately) as Gringoland. This is the backpacker region, taken up by bars and clubs, tourist travel shops, hostels and some hippy markets. Local Ecuadorians do love to spend their time mixing in with the backpackers and so when you walk La Mariscal, it isn´t all gringo´s, yet it doesn´t have a particularly South American feel to it. For that, you head south to the Old Town, with it´s narrow streets, restored colonial architecture and lively plazas. Quito´s Centro Historico is a whole different side of the city. This is the real South America that you would come to see, with old churches, chapels and monasteries built centuries ago by indigenous artisans and labourers - it´s where I spend most of my weekends. It doesn´t matter what time you visit, during any day of the week the whole of the Old Town is packed with local people going about their daily routine.
The Secret Garden Hostel, where I have been living, is a popular backpacker spot located pretty much between the Old and New Towns but is a closer walk to the historical sections of the city. The hostel is great for meeting people and every backpacker is keen on meeting. I´m currently staying in a dorm, sharing with 7 others but I´ll have to move out eventually - I can´t live in this hostel for a year. It does have some nice features though, with it´s most appealing being the roof-top terrace. Its also a bar and restaurant and at night they light a fire in the wheel-barrow and people sit around it chatting, drinking and admiring the spectacular view of Quito´s Old Town.
It´s difficult to get too lost in Quito, as the whole city is built in a valley between the Andean Mountains, which happen to run North-South. It means that the town is long but narrow. and when your not sure where you are you just look for the mountains either side which point out where East and West are and the rest you can work out for yourself.
Not all of the mountains that surround Quito are mountains, however. Some of them are volcanoes, with the main one being Volcan Pinchincha. The volcano is situated just on the western end of the city and takes just a few minutes by taxi to get to its base. Quito has built a long cable car, known as the TeleferiQo, that takes you up most of the height of this volcano. From there you can continue to walk or scramble up to the top. I went with a few friends that I had made during my first few days here. When you get off the cable car, there is a large restaurant and shop (of course) and also a weird (science experiment) looking machine. You then pay to suck pure oxygen out of the tubes as the altitude up here is high. You really notice the effects. We didn´t climb to the top of the volcano as some in our group were feeling the altitude a little too much. I guess I´ll head back one day to climb it. We did however bypass the cable car down and decided to walk. If we had known how long it would take we may have reconsidered. Two hours later, of spiralling around farms and local villages we decide to ask a local how much further to Quito. She explains it´s another two hours but you can get a bus about 30 minutes down the road. The bus wiggled down the narrow dirt track. Never at one point where all four wheels on the ground as it rocked back from side to side. We eventually make it back to our hostel in one piece.
I could tell from my first few days that I was going to like this country. I mean sure, health and saftey for one is not so high on ther priority, I found that out quickly enough. But for most part, the town has some charm, it is very different from home, but in a kind of fun, new exploring sense and as I would soon find out - there were more volcanoes here than a volcanologist could dream of. It was time to head to work, where I would find out all about them................
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
The Offer From Ecuador - Leaving Home Again
I was only in England for three months. After traveling around the world for a year and a half, I only lasted back in London for 100 days. After applying to perhaps 40 volcano jobs all around the globe, only one even replied. The offer came pretty quickly. Hugo Yepes, the director at the Instituto Geofisico in Ecuador contacted me saying that there is a huge project about to take place in the South American country. The Institute were ordering numerous amounts of volcano monitoring equipment and they would need some help to instal it all.
After some brief chats, it was clear that both parties could benefit from me making the trip across the Atlantic and getting on board with this lucrative project. He wanted me not only to help in installing seismic instruments on the volcanoes of Ecuador (many of them active), but to also use my skills in seismic data processing and some personal projects on volcanic prediction based on work that I had done for my Masters thesis. Hugo said he had funding to pay me for one year, so thats how long he wanted me out there for. In the process I would get to travel all over Ecuador and learn new techniques in monitoring volcanoes. It couldn´t be better really.
I planned my trip, taking almost a month to sort out my visa (which was a real hassle), getting new equipment and clothes, and booking flights. At the same time I started to tell everyone that I was off again. It was actually really hard leaving this time around. Last time, others and myself were well prepared for my departure. This time though, everything happened so quickly. What made things harder was that I had some real amazing times back home. I went to a lot of Spurs games, my last being the 9-1 thrashing of Wigan Athletic. I played in the Monday pub quiz with my Sister and Dad up in town every week - on one occassion, our team, perfectly named "The Volcano Cowboys" were successful. One Thursday every month I would meet the cousins at their music event - "Soulshack" and on the rest of my Thursdays I was back playing 5-A-Side footy down at the Pitz. I spent a lot of time catching up with family and equally as much time with friends. Over the last few months, I had had some of the best nights out with my boys that I can ever remember - and now it would all end again. It was mixed emotions.
Ivé realised that to make the most of it all you sometimes have to make sacrifices to achieve your goals. Of course the trip would be fantastic and it was always going to be the right thing to do, but I would have to give up my home, my family and my friends one more time.
The last few weeks at home before I left were definately special. My family put on another leaving party, with all the family there. It was a great night and bizarrely just like my last leaving party a few years ago.
I also had two incredible leaving parties with my friends. The first, all of my London boys were out as we headed into town for a drunken, chaotic night. Earlier in the evening, an old school friend and now famous singer, Amy Winehouse joined us in the local pub. We all enjoyed a fair few drinks before we persuaded Amy to come up to the London club. My friend Michael and myself were driven in Amy´s convoy up to the club. All I remember about it was being fairly intoxicated chatting to Winehouse´s driver about volcanoes for 45 minutes - I´m not sure if he was enjoying the small talk or not. Amy was squashed in the back chatting to Blake before we eventually arrived at Covent Garden. In the end Amy got us all into the club straight away before people started to realise who she was. Then she was mobbed by 500 drunk people and we quickly got her out before things turned bad. Me and the boys stayed in the club and partied to the early hours.
My final night was just as eventful. All the boys were out again, but joining us was also my good traveling friend Darren, his girlfriend who we met in New Zealand - Jaqui, and other traveling friends - Harriet, Rob and Kate. It was a brilliant night and the perfect send off. Me and the boys also did a final meal out (just like last time) and with that it was time to say goodbye. The emotions were high and the hugs were long. I left the country with my helium "welcome home" balloon still flying high in my room, and with that - I was off..............
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Life In London (England)
I have been home from my year and a half travels around the world for just over a month now and life is fully back to the way I remember it. There is still the odd person I haven’t seen, the odd reunion I haven’t arranged and the odd homely locality that I still haven’t yet ventured to, but all in all, my life is back to London normality.
This past month has been busy. I have attended my sisters wedding, travelled across Europe to Germany’s capital, Berlin, for a small trip away, had a fair few reunions with friends from home and travellers alike, who I had met at some point down the road, and have been on plenty of nights out on the town with almost every group of friends I have. Of note, the boys and I went to a fancy dress party. Surprisingly, it didn’t worry me that for the first time in my life I was attending a public event with Banana Man, Captain Jack Sparrow, Peter Pan, an Old Granny (oh young man), a Bishop, and Spiderman by my side. Nor did it bother me that I was attending a public event dressed in the brightest, pinkest, most ridiculous looking hippy outfit imaginable. Equally, it didn’t concern me that most of the boys said I looked like John Lennon. What was worrying, however, was the fact that all of the boys said that if I had just stepped off the plane from my eighteen and a half month trip around the world looking like that, they wouldn’t have even raised an eyebrow. The perception of myself as a traveller and in fact, the perception of all other backpackers who have just stepped off the plane back home, has now been categorically shifted into a realm I hadn’t before considered. Luckily, with the number of alcoholic units consumed that night, by the end of the public event, neither my or any other traveller’s perception was ever questioned again, nor was the need to worry over it’s meaning.
On worldly matters though, something which has been genuinely bothering me, is the news of a series of natural disasters which have been wrecking the lives of thousands throughout the world. Most of these events have occurred in locations that I had travelled to recently. About 15 months ago, I made a quick stop over in Myanmar (Burma) to get my visa extended for Thailand. Less than a few weeks later, on the 2nd May, 2008, the country is devastated by one of the worst tropical cyclones (Cyclone Nargis) to ever hit this part of the world, killing close to 150,000 people and later taking the title of the second deadliest named cyclone of all time.
About 14 months ago, I’m travelling through Indonesia’s largest Island – Sumatra. Since that time, one of the world’s most potentially dangerous volcanoes (Anak Krakatau) started to erupt. When I was there the volcano was just huffing and puffing, spectacular to watch but not at all a danger. I climbed onto the volcano of Anak Krakatau and clambered mid-way up the small island to a point which was only just (at the time) safe enough to reside. If I had been at that point a year later – I probably would have needed a bucket of ice on standby…….it makes you think. Just a few days ago, a 7.6 MM earthquake hit’s the western edges of Sumatra killing 700 people and less than one day before that, a submarine earthquake of 8.0 MM strikes the South Pacific, generating a devastating tsunami which attacks the island nations of Samoa and Tonga. I watched a computer model on the BBC website of where the tsunami waves were generated and which parts of the islands they struck, with one of those lines focusing on the very tip of Eastern Upolu Island in Samoa, where just over 6 months ago, I was sunbathing on the beach.
Now of course this is all coincidence. You could argue that the more of the world you travel, the more likely devastating natural events are going to occur in those locations that you have visited, especially if those locations are ones with a history of disastrous natural phenomena like that of Indonesia – that’s all just statistics. I myself was in an earthquake during my travels of Sumatra, it was centred very closely to the recent event and it too caused damage and devastation although not on quite the same scale. Yet, while I plan my life and which worldly destination to head off to next, I may first pass by the London Flood Barrier and just double check that everything is working properly before I leave these shores. You never can be too careful.
On a happy note, I saw my team - the mighty Spurs win 5-0 against Burnley the other week. Some often claim that Tottenham Hotspur could be considered a natural disaster in itself. It was the first time I had seen them since my travels and I can’t quite describe how good it was to be back at White Hart Lane. Equally as good, my father and I were very generously given tickets in the Centenary Club, where you are provided with a three course meal before the game, then watch your team out on the terraces, but in seats made of the most softest of cow’s skin. After the game, whilst walking out the ground, we also bumped into Harry Redknapp (the Spurs Manager), where we proceeded to have a brief chat and a shaking of hands. I had missed the footy more than I realised.
My 26th birthday passed too. Yet while I didn’t celebrate this one by jumping off a ledge towards a river, safe only by a piece of elastic as I hurtled to the ground attached to my friend Darren, and both dressed with party hats on, as was achieved last year, I did still manage to have a great night out in London with all my mates and celebrate with the enthusiasm of two birthday’s - to make up for lost time.
Apart from all these events, I have been concentrating on my future. Many applications to volcano jobs have been sent out to places all over the world. I’m trying hard for jobs in South America and even harder for employment in the Caribbean – well you can’t blame me. I have also been reviewing my PhD options, however nothing, I’ve realised is going to happen quickly, but, if I keep pushing, they will happen eventually……..
Berlin (Germany)
Even when I was out in New Zealand, some two months earlier, the planned trip to visit Germany's capital (Berlin) was already being talked about. The reason for the trip however, had somewhat eluded me at the time and it wouldn’t really be until we got off the plane at Tegel Airport that it would all start to make some sort of sense. And so, a few weeks after returning back home to London I was packing my bags once again and jet-setting off, this time to the very centre of Europe’s domain. Berlin was a family trip, with all but my father taking the leap across the North Sea. After some breakfast in Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food Restaurant, located in the very heart of Heathrow Airport’s - Terminal 5, we caught our early morning flight.
Quite some time ago, a German named Gunter Demnig came up with the idea that he would create small brass plaques, about the size of a beer mat and then lay them into pavements, cobbled paths, driveways and squares all over Germany. On each is recorded the name of a victim of the Nazis - usually, but not always those murdered in the Holocaust. The idea grew, with over 20,000 of the plaques now crafted by Demnig to date. Their reach has also expanded, with the small brass stones, now being laid in cities all over Europe.
The idea is that the stones are laid where the victim lived or grew up as a child, before their devastating outcome of horror. The scheme is called Stolpersteine or ‘stumbling stones’, with the catch being that each is laid a little unevenly, so that one stumbles over them, catching your attention, for acknowledgement that on that spot once lived an individual among the millions, a particular and personal story that might otherwise have been lost. The commemorative idea is widely accepted by German locals and other countries where the stones are being laid, despite the potential health and safety issues that stumbling stones may frequently generate.
Demnig and his growing team research widely before creating the stones and often contact family members of the individual who may wish to be present when the stones are laid. My grandmother had been contacted a while ago about laying two stones for the parents of my grandfather. This was the main reason for the trip to Berlin, but our four days here would also be used as an opportunity to explore. For while I had been to Germany on a number of occasions I had never visited the countries historic capital.
The first thing you notice when you arrive in Berlin is just how green the city is. I’m not really sure what I was expecting but for some odd reason, green just wasn’t it. There are numerous parks and rivers dotted all over the place and it appears that at every available space were planted yet more trees. We were staying in a hotel near the famous Kurfurstendamm or Ku’damm Road, in the western portion of central Berlin and which is renowned for shopping of all kinds but particularly of designer and hence expensive items.
This family trip would also extend across the Atlantic pond, with cousins Sharon and Vic coming over from America. My Cousin Rachel and Aunt Susan were also joining us. I hadn’t seen Rachel since my travels, so that was a nice surprise. To say that our 4 days was busy would be downsizing the scale of the trip somewhat. We crammed huge amounts of sightseeing, walking and most importantly – eating, into our 100 hours in Berlin.
On our sightseeing days, we ventured across the heart of the capital. We travelled across the communist designed Alexanderplatz, past the giant (365m high) television tower and through the Central Mitte Park where statues of Marx and Engles stand tall. We walked past the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) and continued down the famous Unter den Linden. This wide, cavernous road stretches for 1.5km and is lined with interesting and historical buildings. The road extends from the Schlossbrucke Bridge to the incredible site of the Brandenburg Gate. Considered the city’s most symbolic landmark, the Brandenburg Gate is a triumphal arch, which dates back to the 18th Century and since that time has played an important location for historical events. Hitler and Nazi soldiers paraded with torch-lit marches through the gate and after being cut-off to the people of Germany for 28 years, locals of East and West met at this spot for emotional celebrations on October 3rd 1989, when the Berlin wall was finally brought down.
We immersed in the history of the city further, by taking visits to the interesting Jewish Museum and to the museum of Checkpoint Charlie. Both museums where fascinating and provided a real insight into the life of those living in the Berlin during difficult times of the 20th Century. The museum of Checkpoint Charlie lies next to the actual site itself, its name given by the western allies to a crossing point between East and West Berlin during the cold war. The museum describes the many ways in which people were smuggled across the border for the hope of a better life, some being miraculously successful while others were less fortunate.
We also visited part of the Berlin wall too. Not much of the wall still stands, but there are parts, where pieces of the wall are still visible. Boarded and fenced away, the wall covered in graffiti and based by flowers, still forms a reminder of this cities difficult past. We walked along the shopping Street of the Ku’damm Road and explored the Harrods of Germany known as KaDeWe, a huge shopping centre with a food section that would blow your mind and your wallet at the same time. We explored the Turkish sections of Berlin too and headed out to East Germany to catch up on some personal history, visiting the site where my grandfather used to live and go to school.
We crammed in a trip to the Reichstag too, an immense building, which was constructed to house the parliament of the German Empire. Built in the 19th Century, the building has been of significant importance during the last 100 years. In 1933, a fire ruined large parts of the structure before it was rebuilt again in the 1960’s. The old, architectural piece now has a huge glass, modern dome standing tall within its centre. Finished in 1999, the dome provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding Berlin landscape and provides a sharp contrast to the parliament house of which it sits in, yet nonetheless doesn’t oddly appear out of place. We took a trip up through the dome for great views over the city, despite the initial long queues to get in.
Our evenings in Berlin were equally as busy. Last April, I was working in Dunedin in New Zealand’s South Island. I stayed in a cool little hostel, where working behind the desk was a young, ever-happy young German named Kassandra. I got to know Kassandra quite well as I stayed in that hostel for some weeks. She said that if I was ever in Berlin, to give her a call and she would take me out for a drink or two. So that’s what I did. My sister and I met up with Kassandra and her friend Tessa for a night out which was somewhat a unique experience for us both. If we were tourists on our own – we would never have found this place. You need to be in the know to go to a place like this and that meant being a local. We were taken to a student Pre-Oktoberfest party. High up, with fantastic views over Berlin, a mass of students gathered, wearing lederhosen and drinking beers bigger than the Hubble Space Telescope. They smashed their glasses together, dancing on tables and listening to a live band playing very German, glass smashing hits. By the end, despite the lack of costume, we were up with them on the tables, bashing our beer glasses till we could physically bash no more. It was a great night and a (very German) fabulous experience.
Among the Berlin parties and sightseeing, we were also in the city to lay some stones. We stood outside the place where my grandfather and great-grandparents once lived. It’s now a hotel. Gunter Demnig turned up and started to dig up the pavement. There is no ceremony, no words said – the stones say it all. Often German school kids turn up to see the event take place and understand this part of the countries history. The whole thing was over in a few minutes but hopefully the stones will remain for years to come.
After a manic but enjoyable few days in Berlin, we headed home to Autumn England. I had had my fun, now I needed to get a job……..
